Cost pressures, and successful blockchainprojects like Iznes, will generate significantfurther interest in 2018 and both asset issuersand asset owners will increasingly contributeto the growth of the total market place for theexchange of cryptographic proofs using theinherent integrity of a blockchain. Further areasof the post-trade value chain will be subjectto disintermediation. In 2018, we will also seeincreased emphasis on systems that meet ISO27001 standards and that can process tensof thousands of transformations to tens ofmillions of addresses in a secure permissionedenvironment.

Peter Randall, CEO, SETLMahmood Noorani,founder, Quant Insight

The year to focus onexcellence

The spotlight in 2018 will be firmly on
excellence - for both execution and
research. What we have witnessed in
financial markets to date is that too
much average product and service has
been allowed to survive and prosper.

The transparency changes enforced as
part of MiFID II will ensure an overdue
move towards best-in-class survival.

As accountability and control shifts to
the buy-side in both equity and fixed
income, relationships will change as
will the make-up of key partners. All of
this should be very good for returns, the
end investor, and confidence in financial
markets.

Quant-essentialrecruitment

MiFID II combined with the threat to active
asset managers from passive point in the
same direction: discretionary funds need
to embrace big data & smart technology
to regain an edge. To some degree, this
happened with large asset managers hiring
in-house quants. But history suggests these
teams will be siloed, with insufficient access
to front office traders, meaning their output
will lack relevance. While the first wave of
Fin Tech was dominated by new pipelines of
alternative data, the success of phase two
will be determined by having the experience
& expertise to know which data is relevant,
how to interpret that data & translate it into
actionable investment ideas.